CHRISTMAS TOYS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4908, 27 November 1925, Page 1

CHRISTMAS TOYS

BULK GERMAN MADE. OPINION OF SHOPKEEPERS. Inquiries made in the Dominion elicited the information that the hulk of .the toys to be exhibited this Christmas are of German manufacture. The British goods, it was stated, lacked the quality, variety, and cheapness possessed by those of exenemy origin, while in .the case of American, prices were too high. Japanese articles generally were not being absorbed to any extent. A brief inspection of the toy arcades of Wellington recently showed that the firms concerned had made ample preparation for a big rush of business. .Many new mechanical toys, are on the market, and the prices appear to be fairly reasonable. The natural inquiry after viewing the toys was: “Where were they ■manufactured ?” and the invai iable answer was : “In Germany. But we have no option in the matter,” observed one well-known shopkeeper, who imports most of his toy stock himself. “The Germans can turn out a much better toy than the British, and the price is so much cheaper. I don’t mind telling you that the bulk of my stock came from Germany. When none but British toys were being imported; w'e had to face high prices, and put up with a quality which, to say the least of it, was crude. A long experience has shown me that you cannot get better allround value anywhere else than in Germany. 1 except America, but with their goods the price is the big obstacle. The Germans make every con-ceivable-toy, and if ,a sample of some new American production is submitted ,to them they soon have the same article turned out, but at a lower figure.’ 4

“And how about the Japanese toys ?” asked the 1 reporter. “This is the flrat year for four or five years that we have done anything much with Japan,’’ was the answer. “We have imported between £2OO and £3OO worth from that source. Such things as drawing slates, celluloid rattles, etc., are made rather welll by the Japanese. As I have said, it is impossible for us to support England in some lines. There are particular lines, however, in which English goods cannot be beaten.” Inquiries at a well-known wholesale house confirmed the opinions expressed by the retailers interviewed. There the reporter learned .that abbut 75 per cent of the toys, such as dolls,’ houses, and the best mechanical contrivances, etc., had been imported from Germany. - The prices charged for the American articles' did not invite purchases, there. Some remarkable novelties were coming to hand for the Christmas trade, .and the toys being imported were a .trifle different from those which came into the country during the war, when there was not a decent toy to be had. Japan was being cut out, but was still doing business with celluloid ware and fancy umbrellas. The pressman recalled the Prime Minister’s exhortation to buy British goods. “That’s all very well,” was the reply, “but we have to give the public what they want. The whole trouble is. that Britain does not seem to have tried to capture the toy trade. She has very little to offer us, but does still lead the way in isome articles.” It was mentioned also that Czechoslovakia was coming ..into the limelight a little, their .speciality being fancy glass and chinaware.